Usher
Album: Confessions
Song: Burn
Reviewed by: Krystal Burns
The Band
Usher Raymond is no amateur to the music biz. Like many soulful artist, he got his start in a southern church choir. He was still in high school when he signed with LaFace records and recorded his first hit “Think of You” (1994) on his debut album Usher. He had several gigs after that which included a jingle for coca-cola, opening for Janet Jackson, and even some acting. Other albums include My Way, released in 1998, and 8701 in 2001.
The Music
His latest project, Confessions, was released atop the Billboard charts March 23 of this year. Already there have been more than 1.1 million copies sold. For Usher, this album is an attempt to break away from the good boy image he has been branded with. The songs are catchy and the videos provocative. He explores the ups and downs of life with enough funk and beat to let you forget about the words and dance your confusion and sorrow away. Other songs on the album you’re most likely to hear are the hit single “Yeah,” “Confessions Part II,” and “Truth Hurts.”
The Song
“Burn” is about the pain, confusion, and regret that accompany a break-up 99 percent of the time. The truth in the words and heartfelt emotions is evident in the huge popularity it has received. First the song explores the difficult decision to break up to begin with.
Think it's best we go our separate ways
Tell me why I should stay in this relationship
When I'm hurting baby, I ain't happy baby
Plus there’s so many other things I gotta deal with
I think that you should let it burn
The singer knows the relationship is unhealthy and has decided to move on. The “burn” in this case is referring to the pain of letting go of the relationship. The song seems to follow a chronological order, as verse two describes the feelings that often follow a break up.
I know I made a mistake
Now it's too late
I know she ain't comin back
What I gotta do now
To get my shorty back
Breaking up with someone is like losing a friend, so it’s natural to miss the person. You know what they say: absence makes the heart grow fonder. Loneliness in this case has caused regret. Many teens and adults alike relate to those feelings, and true to our human nature, we love to wallow in the drama of romance gone bad. It’s the type of song you kill with repeats to give the tears of heartache an out at last.
To date or not to date isn’t really where I’d like to go with this. Rather, what comes to mind is a challenge. This song deeply mourns the loss of what was, at one stage, a beautiful relationship with another person. But do we mourn to that extent our relationship with God when it has been damaged? Do we even think that carefully before we damage the relationship by sinning in the first place? The honest answer for most of us is no. The reason for that is that we typically treat our relationships with people differently than with God. We’re much more careful and thoughtful when it comes to our girl/boyfriends and peers. After all, we reason that God isn’t going anywhere and he’ll always be there for us.
What we fail to realize is that when we sin, it’s almost as though we’re breaking up with God. We are putting a barrier up that severely damaged our relationship with him (Hebrews 10:19-39). In Psalm 51, David is a beautiful picture of someone mourning for his relationship with God. He cries “Cleanse me with hyssop [good ol’ fashion bleach] and I will be clean; wash me can I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice” (vs. 8-9). David longed to be restored into a healthy relationship with God. He felt so much remorse over the damage that was done that could do nothing until it was made right. Again, David understood the consequences of sinning against God in a way that we often forget.
When I listen to a song like this, I think about how drastically different Christians would be if we valued our relationship with God as much as we do other, and especially romantic, relationships… What if we were all completely distressed over a damaged relationship with him and could do nothing but think of how to get it back the way it should be? What if we approached it with the same amount of passion and determination as we do other things we love?
So What Do You Think?
1. How healthy is your relationship with God?
2. What can be done to bring more stability to the relationship?
3. How do you spend most of your free time? How does that reflect what/who
you value most?
4. Do you agree with those who say Usher is a just a wanna-be bad boy?
5. The Bible doesn’t seem to say a lot specifically about dating,
but what do you think God thinks about it?